MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- One goalpost is missing. The contraption in the Puskar Center end zone of Mountaineer Field has yet to get entrenched, mostly to protect the construction workers building a new, top-floor academic center from West Virginia kicker Pat McAfee. Because he has tested the new turf plenty with his right leg.

So that means constant kicking, for now, at the stadium's other end and chasing those stray footballs in the stands. "It's a very negative atmosphere," joked McAfee, a junior-to-be from Plum. Then again, West Virginia University didn't spend $901,152 installing FieldTurf Duraspine this summer for the place-kicker's benefit.

"I think it's going to help out the show we have on offense," McAfee said the other day. "I think that's the purpose of it, right?"

"That's probably not a coincidence," added left tackle Ryan Stanchek. Moments before, he was referring to the "jackrabbits in the backfield" for the Mountaineers. Specifically, he was talking about the tailback and quarterback shown on the covers of a handful of preseason college-football publications -- the facemask-less, Street & Smith's throwback edition is a must-see -- and fellows around whom already is uttered the designation Heisman Trophy candidate, Steve Slaton and Patrick White.

Yet West Virginia's offense also includes a fleet receiver in Darius Reynaud, one of the fastest 250-pound fullbacks/tight ends anywhere in Owen Schmitt, plus a couple of nimble reserves who could see playing time in backup quarterback Jarrett Brown and ballyhooed freshman tailback Noel Devine.

As White phrased it, "Might not be a 1-2 punch. Might be a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. Might have to throw in Stanchek," an offensive lineman with a pass reception on his collegiate resume -- albeit a rebound two years ago off Slaton.

Whatever, a bunch of Mountaineers will be cutting up a new rug.

The day after the Gold-Blue spring game in April, workers began ripping out the 5-year-old AstroPlay surface and ushering in the new. FieldTurf started in 1985 with golf and tennis and multiple uses, then branched into soccer. The company of the same name credits Ringgold High School with being the first scholastic stadium installation in the United States and the place where Nebraska's Tom Osborne discovered it. From there, the stuff lined the Cornhuskers' indoor facility, then their Memorial Stadium, next sporting America.

The Steelers became their first NFL client by choosing the surface for the UPMC Sports Performance Complex's indoor practice facility on the South Side. It blossomed outdoors, to the Cleveland Browns' outdoor fields and then the stadia of the Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks, Jets and Giants, Twins and Vikings, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. The Steelers won Super Bowl XL on it at Detroit's Ford Field. The Pro Bowl in Aloha Stadium is played on the stuff.

Now come the Mountaineers, something like the 37th college team to use FieldTurf -- along with 18 NFL teams' practice fields, four Big East brethren (with Cincinnati, Louisville and Syracuse), three major-league ballpark fields, and so on.

Duraspine, the latest incarnation of the ersatz grass, is supposed to most simulate the real thing. The company Web site boasts about it staying "silky and lush just like nature intended." It is marketed as durable, with seven pounds of silica sand along with three pounds of cryogenic rubber underneath every square foot.

To the naked eye, it's a darker green than the previous Mountaineer Field top. It's taller. It's softer superficially. The important part, though, is that the Mountaineers seem to relish it.

So the story goes, West Virginia took Slaton and White about 20 miles north to Waynesburg College to check out their FieldTurf. It took the pair about two minutes to conclude: This is it.

"I like it a lot," Stanchek said. "I think it's a little straighter. I think it's a little faster."

Like he said, that probably isn't a coincidence.

West Virginia will play its first two 2007 games on the same turf, at home Sept. 1 against Western Michigan and a week later at Marshall, which also has FieldTurf. And, counting dates Oct. 6 at Syracuse and Nov. 17 at Cincinnati, it will play nine of its 12 games on the stuff.